Enlarge image
Photo: Sebastian Kahnert / picture alliance / dpa
According to estimates by the World Health Organization (WHO), the corona pandemic cost the lives of around 14.9 million people worldwide in 2020 and 2021.
That's almost triple the number of deaths previously linked directly to the coronavirus.
The WHO on Thursday released a new estimate of the total number of people who died from direct or indirect consequences of the pandemic between January 1, 2020 and December 31, 2021.
The number includes both those who have died from corona infections and people with other diseases or injuries who could not be treated in time due to the overload of the health systems.
According to reports from WHO member countries, the number of deaths among corona infected people worldwide is now just over 6.2 million.
The WHO is calling for more investment in healthcare so that future vital treatments do not have to be postponed in times of crisis such as a pandemic.
Excess mortality – also in Germany
When estimating excess mortality, the US Institute for Health Metrics (IHME) in Seattle came to similar conclusions as the WHO now.
At the end of 2021, the institute assumed 15.4 million deaths.
Excess mortality is when more deaths occur in a given period than would be statistically expected.
The WHO experts have taken into account that a certain number of deaths have been prevented due to the corona restrictions.
This includes, for example, fewer road accidents and accidents at work because more people were working from home and curfews were imposed in many places.
In Germany, too, the corona pandemic has led to excess mortality since it began in spring 2020.
According to the Federal Statistical Office at the end of last year, more people died in the period from March 2020 to the end of 2021 than "calculated to be expected".
A total of 985,600 people died nationwide in 2020 alone, five percent or 46,000 more than in the previous year.
Due to the aging of the population alone, the number of deaths would have increased by only two percent or about 20,000 cases.
sug/dpa-AFX/afp
